This invention relates to a method of decomposing a fluorine-containing organic material.
Fluorine-containing organic materials which are now widely utilized in a variety of applications are not delivered from problems of environmental pollution. There are reports that the concentration of trifluoroacetic acid in the atmosphere gradually increases year by year and that perfluorooctanesulfonic acid is harmful to human bodies. High molecular weight fluorine-containing organic materials are also likely to cause environmental problems.
Thus, there is a strong demand for decomposing fluorine-containing organic materials without releasing them into the environment. One known method of decomposing halogen-containing organic materials uses plasma destruction in which the material is decomposed in a high-frequency plasma having a temperature higher than 10,000° C. in the presence of water. Another method is a supercritical hydrolysis in which the material is hydrolyzed by supercritical water at high temperature and pressure. A further method is a catalytic process in which the material is contacted with a catalyst at a high temperature. A pyrolysis method is further known in which the material is directly thermally decomposed. The known methods are not satisfactory and cannot effectively break carbon-fluorine bonds of fluorine-containing organic materials.